Originally Posted by
KonAaron Snake
I've seen some Peugeots and Gitanes as bad as any Raleigh, but when you're bench marking against Peugeot, you're missing the point. The comments about Motobecane are very in line with my experiences btw...they were producing notably nicer bikes than many others.
Yep. My late 60s PX10 had terrible QC. It had about 3 lug points you could stick a fingernail underneath. Most lugs had overhanging casting flash that had simply been painted over. The seat lug had rough chatter marks and a big burr that, again, had simply been painted over. No file had ever come within 10m of that frame for sure. While the paint hadn't been in great condition, part of the reason I repainted it was to inspect all the joints for structural integrity. As it turns out they were all fully wetted and sound, but they certainly didn't waste any time on aesthetics.
Motobecanes were always a couple steps ahead of the contemporary euro brands WRT fit and finish.
Now WRT to Raleigh, I never worked at a Raleigh shop so I have limited experience, but they weren't really out of line for the standards of the time. Of course, this is partly why the Japanese companies took over the market by the 80s.
In the 70s though, japanese bikes could be unreliable tanks. For example, a Raleigh 3 speed was far and away superior to the insanely heavy Japanese equivalents of the time, and even more superior to the Huffys and other department store junk that average people rode.